


Returning to a time he once knew

by climbingup



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: CACW non-compliant, FFH SPOILERS, Peter goes back to his younger selfs body, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-09-23 08:44:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20337337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/climbingup/pseuds/climbingup
Summary: Peter is running after his identity is revealed to the world when he is hit by a blinding light and ends up at the airport in German with the Avengers fighting.Peter assumes that they're illusions from Beck and that he never got away from the man who made his nightmares come true.ON HIATUS!! WORK UP FOR ADOPTION!!





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Please give your opinions about what I've written so far and updates may be slow as I have another fic being written at the same time as this one

Peter wakes up at the airport fight after battling with Mysterio and believes that everything is an illusion. He starts fighting everyone who touches him and tries to get away causing some injuries and damage, so the rest have to fight together to contain him.

“Spider-man’s name… his name is Peter Parker”

That sentence kept ringing in Peter’s head as he sat there, waiting for the inevitable. To be found and arrested. To be taken to prison, maybe the raft if it still existed.

He had changed out of his suit as quickly as he could and he now wore a hoodie with the hood up to try to keep people from recognising him and calling him into the hotline that was being broadcast on every news network along with his name, address and school.

His heart started to quicken as he walked down the deserted street and he ducked into an alley way, hoping that no one would see him when he finally fell apart. He leaned against the wall and tried to slow his breathing, then tipped his head back and looked at the moon.

Huh, he thought, he hadn’t realised that so much time had passed.

Suddenly his senses went haywire and he turned towards the threat ready to flee if it was someone who was about to turn him in.

Bright light blinded him, and he felt his body being thrown, heard his head crack as it hit the ground.

He lost consciousness.

Ba-dump

Ba-dump

Ba-dump

He slowly opened his eyes, afraid that he had been found and arrested, already planning his escape in his head. He needed to quickly scan the room he was in for doors and win-

He wasn’t in a room.

He could see the sky.

How long had he been out? It was daytime!

He sat up and jerked his head around. Where was he? He wasn’t in the city, he could see a building near him but it didn’t look like one he knew even if he had the vague sense of recognition.

He heard something, and his stomach filled with dread at the sound because he knew what it meant. It meant that he had never beaten him, he had never escaped, he had never been free of the nightmare.

It meant that Mysterio was still alive.

He heard repulsors.

He turned slowly with his heart in his throat, looking at the image of the man he had loved like a father whilst slowly getting to his feet.

His heart wrenched at the sight of the red and gold armour that glistened in the sunlight and he felt tears form in his eyes. He was looking at the mark 46.

The suit touched down and the face plate lifted to reveal a much younger Mr Stark than he had seen when he had returned from the blip. The man had less worry lines on his face and less grey hair.

He almost wanted to reach out and touch it to see if it was rea-

He shook his head. No. He knew it wasn’t real.

Mysterio had done this to him before and he wasn’t going to let the man inside his head again.

“-id. Kid you okay?” The illusion asked him.

Peter’s heart clenched at the words, knowing that if he started to talk then he would want to stay…

But he couldn’t stay, not in this illusion when who knows how many were hurt and could be killed by Mysterio using EDITH and pretending to be a hero.

He had to get out of here.

He looked at the illusion in front of him again, with a hand raised out towards him and uttered one word, almost inaudibly.

“Goodbye.”

He turned and ran, jumping onto the jet bridge to the side of him and running along it to see if he could get out of the illusion through distance alone.

He reached the end of the jet bridge and prepared to jump, looking around for the nex-

He froze.

Surely even the man he was fighting couldn’t be this mean.

He realised where he remembered everything from now.

Germany.

The time when the Avengers split, the first time he met Mr Stark, the first time he fought next to the man but in the worst of circumstances where friends, no family, turned against each other. Divided over a conflict that they should have united to fix.

He saw all of them fighting.

Black Widow against Hawkeye. Scarlet witch against Vision. Rhodey against Falcon. Captain America against Black Panther.

Then he heard the repulsors behind him again.

He turned to see the illusion of Iron man coming up behind him at speed, arm reached out as if to grab him and he reacted.

He webbed the illusion, knowing inside that it would do no good, and his fears were confirmed as the illusion swerved to avoid it,

“What the-“ it said.

Peter jumped and began running away from everyone, weaving in between the fighting pairs as he tried to reach the edge of the airport.

He could see the grass.

He was almost there.

_Move_, his senses warned, and he herked to the side, coming out of the roll into a sprint again.

He ran between Black Widow and Hawkeye as they fought, causing them both to swear and jerk back to avoid being hit.

He jumped over Captain America and kept running, hearing the illusions behind him yelling something.

He couldn’t really hear.

He only heart his own heart beat as it pumped loudly and incessantly in his ear.

Duck his senses screamed again and he rolled, seeing the shield soar over him.

He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw the illusions of Iron man, Captain America and Black Panther coming after him.

When he looked back in front of him he realised that he was heading straight towards the building in front of him and jumped, turning sideways slightly so that he wouldn’t slam face first into the glass wall he was about to break.

CRASH

He heard more noise behind him as he ran through the building, dodging and running from the illusions chasing him.

He saw a ledge above him and sprang, onto the pillar just to the side in front of him and then onto the ledge, then began running again.

He heard two sets of repulsors behind him and the thundering of feet as he sprinted for safety.

He dodged as he ran, trying to make himself a harder target to the drones making up the illusions behind him.

_Dodge_ his senses screamed again and he moved instinctively, flinging himself through another pane of glass back onto the tarmac again as he heard the shield whistle past him again.

He heard gasps as he fell and scoffed to himself, thinking of Beck programming this scenario just to torture him.

He hit the ground hard and heard a crack that seemed to reverberate in the space around him.

He stumbled as he felt the pain he knew was at least his leg fracturing if not breaking then continued to run.

He dodged the illusion of Black Widow as she tried to stop him and knocked the illusion of Hawkeye out of the was as he tried to make his way to the grass again.

He was halfway there when the illusion of the Winter Soldier came up beside him.

Peter prepared to dodge out of the way again when he realised that his spider sense wasn’t telling him to dodge, so he just kept running as he assumed that it was a projection that didn’t have a drone inside which could hurt him.

He ran a bit further when he realised that the illusion of Captain America was gaining on his other side and as he looked he realised that it appeared to be yelling something.

He struggled to hear anything but what he associated with immediate threats like the repulsors and the pounding of feet over his own hearbeat.

He tried to calm himself as he ran, the pain radiating from his leg helping to centre him.

“-on’t know what’s going on?” He heard the illusion of Captain America say.

“No” he heard the illusion of his mentor yell. “He was thrown by something and then when he got up it was like he didn’t recognise me.”

Peter scoffed as he heard this, internally rolling his eyes and thinking that Mysterio had done a better job before when he had made the illusion of Iron man at the graveyard.

“Graveyard?” He heard the illusion of the Winter Soldier ask beside him in confusion and he cursed himself, realising that he spoke out like.

“Fuck off Beck” He spat and pulled away from the illusion as he sprinted faster.

“Something’s wrong with him” he heard the illusion of the Winter Soldier say.

“Yeah no-“

“Shut up” the illusion Winter soldier snapped at the illusion of Iron man. “He said something about an illusion of you at a graveyard and someone called Mysterio.”

“What?” he heard someone’s confused voice ask.

“He thinks this is an illusion” the illusion of Captain America confirmed. “I heard him say the same thing.”

Peter was so focused on listening to the conversation that he had slowed down a bit, and he jerked when he saw vision right in front of him.

He skidded to a stop and was about to set out in another direction when he saw the entire group surrounding him, coming in from all directions.

He turned when he heard a clank of boots and saw the illusion of Iron man standing there with his face plate up, looking at him in concern, and he felt his heard break that little bit more.

“Hey Underoos” the illusion said softly, it’s hands up in a non-aggressive manner. “Are you okay?”

Peter scoffed aloud at that and pulled his mask off to glare at the illusion as he heard the other illusions gasp and heard mutters of how young he was.

“C’mon Beck” he said, looking straight at the illusion of Iron man, who appeared confused at the name. “You fooled me when you pretended to be Fury, but Iron man? Really? You were doing a better job at the graveyard you created.”

He turned around to try and spot one of the drones, even though he knew it was fruitless. They had been designed by Mr Stark before he died after all.

As he turned he saw the confused face on the other illusions of the heroes and the mutters of Fury, the speculation that they thought he was dead.

“I am surprised though” he said once he had come full circle and faced the illusion of Iron man again. “I don’t know how you knew that Black Panther and Ant-man were here.” He saw more surprise on the illusions face at his proper use of their names and gave another scoff. “Then again it wasn’t really known that I was there either and you somehow managed to figure that out.”

The illusion of Iron man spoke again.

“Kid, I don’t know what’s going on but this isn’t an illusion.”

“That’s exactly what an illusion would say.” He replied calmly, staring straight at it.

The illusion nodded at that with a strained look on it’s face. “Of course it would” he muttered.

“What would convince you we’re not an illusion?” The illusion of the Black Widow questioned to his left, and he spun to face it.

“Nothing.” He replied. “I’m not stupid enough to do that again, but I will admit letting me think I had beaten you and managing to leave me in an illusion for a few days was impressive.” He cocked his head thoughtfully. “Although I am glad to know that the reveal of my identity was an illusion.”

“What if I can prove it?” asked a voice behind him, and he spun to look at the Black Panther with his hands in the air.

“Please” Peter snarled, “everyone knows that King T’Challa is the Black Panther.”

“Who is everyone?” The man asked as he pressed something on his chest and the suit receded.

“Oh come on.” Peter gave a harsh laugh, “he announced his country to the entire world after the accords shit and he started an outreach programme with his sister.”

At the illusions look of shock he shook his head, “again, common. Knowledge.”

“What about me?” The illusion of Ant-man asked, the helmet receding to reveal the man beneath.

“Oh, please” he sighed, getting tired of Beck’s games, “everyone knows Ant-man is Scott Lang. It was international news!”

The illusion he was starting at became ashen and stumbled away from him asking “how does he know my name?” the man’s eyes went beseechingly towards the illusion of Captain America.

“Obviously you know me” the illusion stated, looking at him when he turned towards to man to the left of the illusion of Iron-man.

“Captain America” he announced, “America’s golden boy until he became in international criminal to be arrested on sight.”

The illusion jerked back at that, shaking his head.

“I don’t know what you think is going on son, but-“

“Fuck off Beck” he snarled, “What? Are you just waiting for another train you can hit me with?” He directed this towards the sky as he turned in a slow circle, growing more and more agitated as the man didn’t appear.

Then he felt something in the back of his mind and looked towards the illusion of the Scarlet witch, which had red smoke around it’s finger tips as it looked towards him.

Then it stumbled, and the illusions of Hawkeye and Vision rushed to support it.

“It’s true” it said as it looked at him. “all the things he’s saying he believes. I can see it in his memories.”

The illusion of the Winter Soldier finally spoke up. “What if I could prove it to you?”

“You can’t”

“What if I can?” He pressed again.

“If you can prove it, then I’ll listed but I’ve been tricked before and I won’t make that mistake again.”

The illusion nodded and stood there, his eyes narrowed in focus.

“I was cryogenically frozen when I was in HYDRA.”

Peter sighed. “That’s common knowledge.”

“Wait” the illusion of Iron man said. “If we can tell you something that other people wouldn’t know we can convince you this is real?” He stared at Peter with an unwavering gaze until he nodded in acceptance.

“Well, I’m out” the illusion of the Black Widow said, “We did a data drop that had everything about me on it.”

“So is Tony” the Captain America illusion said, “everyone knows everything about him.”

“No they don’t” Peter said with a smirk, and at the disbelieving looks on the others face the barked out a short laugh. “There is so much the world never knew about the man that was Tony Start.”

At the word was the group seemed to tense and then blanche.

“Okay” the Iron man illusion started. “The compound’s address is-“

Peter cut him off. “Everyone knows”

The illusion nodded jerkily and continued. “When I first tried to suit after I got back I almost died from ice forming on it.”

Peter tilted his head in thought. “Not too well known but you could have hacked FRIDAY”

“I travel through the vents.” The illusion of Hawkeye stated, obviously deciding to join in.

“Sorry, some of the employees at SI know that.”

“So something that only we would know, that no one at SI would know and isn’t on a database that could be hacked?” The Black Widow illusion asked.

Peter nodded.

“I have trigger words which turn me into the Winter Soldier.” The Winter Soldier Illusion said.

The circle paused at that, giving off the impression that they didn’t know, but Peter shook his head. “There was an entire documentary on the Winter Soldier.”

The group continues stating random facts, getting seemingly more and more bewildered as every fact that they came up with is shot down almost immediately.

“Yinsen.”

The word was almost a whisper, but it caused Peter to jerk around and stare at the illusion of Iron man.

“How do you know that name?” he demanded, ready to attack it for using that name. “He never told anyone about that name. I wouldn’t even know about that if-“ he broke off, not wanting to give Beck any more ammunition.

The muttering and talking stopped once he spoke, the illusions seemed almost shocked that he had given a reaction other than an immediate dismissal of an idea.

“I met Yinsen in Afghanistan” the Iron man illusion said softly, looking at him.

Peter nodded, knowing that was true.

“He helped me; he saved my life.” It continued, “without him I would be dead.”

Peter swallowed, his throat suddenly dry as he thought about how no one knew about the man who had died so that Tony Stark could live.

“The last thing he said to me was don’t waste it. Don’t waste your life.” It, no he, had tears in his eyes as he spoke and Peter’s body sagged.

“What are you?” he asked brokenly, and at the questioning looks he had from the things he had believed to be illusions he explained. “If you’re not illusions then what are you?”

At this Tony Stark stepped out of the Iron man armour and walked towards him, waving off Captain America, warning him to stay back.

“Well,” he said stopping in front of Peter, “as far as I’m aware I’m a human and this is German. The year is 2016.”

At the year Peter collapsed to his knees, staring at his hands, and realised that he was wearing the suit from before the snap.

He turned his hands over, amazed that they might be telling the truth.

He nodded and looked up.

“Then we have a lot to talk about.”


	2. Tony's pov

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's pov of the first chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to explain how everything happened from everyone else's pov, so you understand why they all stopped fighting

Tony was in the middle of fighting whilst keeping an eye on the kid when a fish comes towards his head and he has to dodge. When he comes back up he attacks and then moves back to try and find the kid again, when he spots something that looks suspiciously like Underoos flying through the air onto the other side of a jet bridge.

“Shit”

He turned and flew towards the kid, panic slowly growing as he spots him lying on the ground but he breathes a sigh of relief when he sat up and started turning to look around.

He landed in front of him and FRIDAY lifted his faceplate up so that he could look at the child that he had brought into this fight.

He watched as the kid shook his head and started to grow concerned. Maybe he had landed on his head. Shit. Did he have a concusion?

“Kid? Hey can you hear me? Kid.” His worry grew as he received no reply. “Kid. Kid you okay?”

He reached out a hand towards the kid in front of him when Peter suddenly uttered one word, so softly that he wouldn’t have heard it if FRIDAY hadn’t amplified it for him.

“Goodbye.”

Tony blinked at that, confused and opened his mo-

Son of a bitch.

The kid had run away from him. From him.

What the hell?

He launched off after the kid again, all the while musing to himself.

This kid who had been fanboying over him just a few minutes earlier was actively running away from him? How hard had he hit his head!?!

He spotted the teen on the edge of the jet bridge looking at the team, if they could even still be called that, fighting beneath him.

Gotcha he thought as he gained speed and reached out a hand to ca-

He swirved at the last second to avoid the webbing that had just been shot at him.

“What the” he said, now thoroughly confused that this sweet kid he had only just met and who had been excited to meet him had now just attacked him. With his own tech!

He raced after the kid again after telling FRIDAY to set his shots to stun so that he wouldn’t hurt him.

He lined up a shot and was just about to fire when the kid began weaving between the pairs fighting and he held off, not wanting to hit anyone with a stray shot.

He gained height, hoping to stop him before he reached the boundary of the airport which he seemed so desperate to do.

Shit, he’s slmost there.

He fired off a shot but cursed again when he ducked out of the way.

Stupid sixth sense.

Ouch.

He cringed internally as the kid crashed between the two assassins, knowing that their quick reflexes were the only thing that stopped them from becoming roadkill.

Then he gaped as the kid jumped over Cap of all people and just. Kept. Running?

What kid didn’t want to at least talk to Captain America?

“What the?” Cap said, jerking around to look at the person who had managed to soar right over him without trying to help or hinder him. Then he saw the double take as he went chasing after the kid.

“Tony” Cap called, causing T’Challa to pause in confusion when his attempts at attack were no londer met with force. “What’s going on?”

“Hell if I know” he replied tersely, “Took a spill and suddenly it’s like he’s terrified of me.”

He saw Cap nod and then to his astonishment, abandoned his fight with the Black Panther to chase after the kid and threw his shield at his head.

Which he dodged.

Again.

This dodging thing was getting really old.

Cap caught the shield again, but was still slightly gaping that someone had dodged it when it was thrown at the back of them.

“What is going on?” T’Challa demanded, forced to keep pace with them to get answers.

“Well, the kid may have brain damage” Tony announce, cringing again when he heard the expletives that Cap used.

“So you are saying that we have a potentially dangerout and uncontrolled supersoldier on the loose?” T’Challa questioned dryly.

“It may be worse than that” Tony admitted, then shot off another blast, slightly less powered this time in the hopes that if it was weak enough he wouldn’t sense it.

No such luck.

The kid dodged it in suck a way that de doubted he even realised that he had.

At least they could corner him, he reasoned as they steered him towards the terminal, and then they cou-

CRASH

He brain struggled to cope with what he had just seen, and it seemed by the stupefied look on the Captain’s face he was as well.

“I’ll help you catch him” T’Challa announced, seeming as though he was doing them a big favour but Tony could hear the underlying concern of what could cause someone to launch themselves through the glass wall of a building voluntarily.

They chased after him faster than before, feeling the urgency to stop him even more now that he had shown to be a danger to himself.

T’Challa launched himself at Peter’s back so that he could tackle him to the ground, only to be dodged.

Tony shot blast after blast at him, only for it to be dodged.

Cap tried to bounce the shield off the wall and hit him with it, only for it to be dodged.

This theme continued as Peter jumped onto a pillar, then the ledge above them and continued running.

“Need some help?” Tony heard, and turned around to see Rhodey coming up behind him as he released an appreciative grin.

“I think he’s hit his head” Tony summarised quickly for his best friend, making sure he knew not to go for anything that could potentially cause him any more harm.

Then he and everyone around he watched in horror as the kid dodged the shield and instead of continuing to run like he had before he flung himself out of the building through another part of the glass wall. From the first floor.

They moved as fast as they could, but they heard the crack of a bone breaking just before they saw him, and Tony felt his gut twist as he blamed himself for allowing the kid to be hurt. Then he started to fly down towards him when the kid. Got. Up? And. Started. To. Run. Again?

He sped up towards Peter when he noticed that Natasha was coming up to the kid with Clint to try and stop him and his heart lifted a bit as he hoped that this would be enough to stop him.

No.

He dodged Natasha and managed to shove birdbrain out of the way.

How the hell was a kid evading all of them?

By this point everyone had taken notice of what was going on and they were all abandoning their fights to try and stop the kid from injuring himself further, and if he was honest with himself he was willing to let anyone try, even if that person was the Winter Soldier.

As the Winter Soldier drew up alongside the kid, he was about to tell the man that attacking the kid wouldn’t work when he realised that it wasn’t the man’s intention at all. He was just keeping pace with the kid, almost as if he was trying to make him see that he wasn’t a threat.

Tony watched them jog for a bit further and noticed that everyone seemed content to let them continue to run without interfering. Then he saw Cap pull up and run beside them.

“What are you doing?” He yelled, frustrated and worried that the man could cause the kid that he had brought into this, the person that he was responsible for, to continue to hurt himself.

“Seeing if it’s only Buck that he doesn’t have a negative reaction to” was the terse reply he received.

“Are you sure that it’s because he hit his head?”

“Well it’s the only thing I’ve got to go on.” Tony bit out, still frustrated with Steve for not listening to him in the first place so that they could have avoided this entire fight.

“Tony” Steve snapped at him again. “He’s running on a broken leg! A head wound would only make him confused and probably make him lose balance, so I’ll ask again. Is it possible that you don’t know what’s going on?”

“No” Tony yelled back and then decided to explain what happened, if only to shut him up. “He was thrown by something and then when he got up it was like he didn’t recognise me.”

The he heard a scoff from the kid, the first sound he had made since the whispered goodbye.

“Graveyard?” He heard the Winter Soldier question.

“FRIDAY, did I miss something?”

“It seems Underoos said something , but I couldn’t pick up the exact words.” His AI replied.

“Fuck off Beck” He heard the kid spit and then watched as he pulled away from the Winter Soldier as he started to sprint faster.

“Something’s wrong with him” The Winter Soldier said to them, as he slowed to let the distance between him and the kid grow.

“Yeah no-“ Tony replied, about to be sarcastic about the fact that a sane person would jump through two panes of glass voluntarily.

“Shut up” the Winter soldier snapped him, shocking Tony into momentary silence. “He said something about an illusion of you at a graveyard and someone called Mysterio.”

“What?” T’Challa asked, still keeping pace with them.

“He thinks this is an illusion” the Cap confirmed. “I heard him say the same thing.”

Tony was just about to curse when he noticed that Peter was starting to slow down and then notice Vision blocking his way.

They watched as the kid skidded to a stop and was about to set out in another direction when he noticed everyone was starting to surround him, coming in from all directions.

Tony landed behind Peter and flipped his face plate up again, looking at him in concern at the defensive stance that screamed fear.

“Hey Underoos” the Tony said softly, holding his hands up in a non-aggressive manner. “Are you okay?”

Peter scoffed aloud at that and pulled his mask off to glare at him, and Tony winced at the shocked gasps from the others, the scathing looks and the promise of violence from Natasha.

His concern for the kid grew as he looked straight at him and said “C’mon Beck.” Who the hell was Beck, and how quickly could he kill him? He blinked at that, shocked at the visceral reaction he had to whoever could hurt the kid enough that the bubbly and eager child in front of him could have a glare that full of hate. “You fooled me when you pretended to be Fury, but Iron man? Really? You were doing a better job at the graveyard you created.”

The mention of Fury threw him off. When had the kid met Fury, and how would he even know what the spy of all spies looked like?

“He knows Fury?” Clint asked him, confusion on his face and all Tony could do was shrug.

They watched as Peter turned around and scanned the area, seeming to be looking for something but not finding it.

“I thought Fury was dead” muttered Rhodey.

“I am surprised though” Peter said once he had come full circle and Tony again. “I don’t know how you knew that Black Panther and Ant-man were here.” Tony was shocked that the kid knew the name of T’Challa’s suit, and the name of what he assumed was the shrinking guy when he had, to his knowledge, never been told them before. “Then again it wasn’t really known that I was there either and you somehow managed to figure that out.”

Tony began to grow more concerned as Peter spoke, wondering if something had happened to the kid before he met him that he hadn’t heard about and the knock to his head caused him to believe he was in that situation again.

“Kid, I don’t know what’s going on but this isn’t an illusion.” Tony said, trying to get through to him.

“That’s exactly what an illusion would say.” Peter replied calmly, staring at him as if he didn’t truly see him.

Tony nodded at that, hating that it was never that simple. “Of course, it would” he muttered.

“What would convince you we’re not an illusion?” Natasha questioned to his left, and Peter spun to face it as Tony felt glad that they had at least received a reaction from him.

“Nothing.” Peter replied. “I’m not stupid enough to do that again, but I will admit letting me think I had beaten you and managing to leave me in an illusion for a few days was impressive.” He cocked his head thoughtfully. “Although I am glad to know that the reveal of my identity was an illusion.”

Reveal of his identity?!? When the hell had that happened?

“What if I can prove it?” asked T’Challa with his hands in the air as Peter spun to face him.

“Please” Peter snarled, “everyone knows that King T’Challa is the Black Panther.”

“Who is everyone?” T’Challa asked as he pressed something on his chest and the suit receded.

“Oh come on.” Peter gave a harsh laugh, “he announced his country to the entire world after the accords shit and he started an outreach programme with his sister.”

T’Challa looked of shock he shook his head, not believing that he would decide to announce his country to the world, but with the information the boy in front of him had, he had to acknowledge the possibility.

“again, common. Knowledge.” Peter spat, almost challenging them to find something else.

“What about me?” The shrinking guy asked, and the helmet receding to reveal the man beneath.

“Oh, please” Peter sighed, looking irritated and bored at the same time, “everyone knows Ant-man is Scott Lang. It was international news!”

The man, apparently Scott Lang became ashen and stumbled away from him asking “how does he know my name?” Scott turned his eyes beseechingly towards Cap, as if hoping the man had the answer.

“Obviously you know me” Cap stated, looking at Peter as he turned to face Cap.

“Captain America” he announced, “America’s golden boy until he became in international criminal to be arrested on sight.”

Cap jerked back at that, shaking his head, and everyone around the circle looked shocked at the information but Tony was shaken to his core, never truly believing that it would have gone to state of Cap being named an international criminal.

“I don’t know what you think is going on son, but-“

“Fuck off Beck” Peter snarled, “What? Are you just waiting for another train you can hit me with?” Peter directed the comments towards the sky as he turned in a slow circle, growing more and more agitated as they watched.

Tony turned his head when he saw Wanda motioning to him, and realised she was asking if she could read his mind. He nodded, hating that he had to agree to it, but he knew that they needed to know what they were dealing with.

Peter turned, almost as if he had felt it and they watched as she stumbled.

Tony watched with concern as Clint and Vision rushed to stop her hitting the ground.

“It’s true” she said as she looked at Peter, then she turned to look at Tony. “all the things he’s saying he believes. I can see it in his memories.”

Shit. Fuck.

Why can’t anything ever be a simple head injury?

The Winter Soldier finally spoke up. “What if I could prove it to you?”

“You can’t”

“What if I can?” He pressed again.

“If you can prove it, then I’ll listed but I’ve been tricked before and I won’t make that mistake again.”

The Winter Soldier nodded and stood there, his eyes narrowed in focus.

“I was cryogenically frozen when I was in HYDRA.”

Peter sighed. “That’s common knowledge.”

“Wait” Tony said, an idea forming. “If we can tell you something that other people wouldn’t know we can convince you this is real?” He stared at Peter with an unwavering gaze until he nodded in acceptance.

“Well, I’m out” Natasha said, sounding like she had no feelings about it but if you knew he well enough you could hear the slight regret in her voice. “We did a data drop that had everything about me on it.”

“So is Tony” Cap said, “everyone knows everything about him.”

“No they don’t” Peter said with a smirk, and Tony started to wonder just how well this kid got to know him when even his own team believed most of what the media had written about him. When Peter looked at the disbelieving looks on the faces of some of the people in the circle he the barked out a short laugh. “There is so much the world never knew about the man that was Tony Start.”

Was? Does that mean-

He shook his head, trying to clear the thought as he knew that this wasn’t the right time and looked around at the blanched faces of his friends. Looks like the caught that as well he thought to himself.

“Okay” the Tony started, deciding to go with some simple facts first. “The compound’s address is-“

Peter cut him off. “Everyone knows”

Tony nodded jerkily and continued, but still wondered how anyone knew about it when they were never planning on releasing the address. “When I first tried to suit after I got back, I almost died from ice forming on it.”

Peter tilted his head in thought. “Not too well known but you could have hacked FRIDAY”

“I travel through the vents.” Clint stated, obviously deciding to join in now that Wanda had confirmed it was true.

“Sorry, some of the employees at SI know that.”

“So, something that only we would know, that no one at SI would know and isn’t on a database that could be hacked?” Natasha asked.

Peter nodded.

“I have trigger words which turn me into the Winter Soldier.” The Winter Soldier said, shocking Tony as he had assumed that he had chosen to do what he had done, and as he looked around at the group, he saw that they hadn’t known that fact either.

Peter shook his head. “There was an entire documentary on the Winter Soldier.”

The group continues stating random facts, getting seemingly more and more bewildered as every fact that they came up with is shot down almost immediately.

“Yinsen.”

The word was almost a whisper, all that Tony could manage, wishing that he had something else to say but knowing that this was probably one of the only things that would convince him.

Peter jerked around and stared at the Tony.

“How do you know that name?” Peter demanded, seeming ready to attack him for even daring to use that name. “He never told anyone about that name. I wouldn’t even know about that if-“ Peter broke off, looking as though he forced himself to stop.

The muttering and talking stopped once Peter spoke, everyone seeming almost shocked that he had given a reaction other than an immediate dismissal of an idea, and Tony hated that he would have to relieve it but he carried on.

“I met Yinsen in Afghanistan” Tony said softly, looking at Peter, but not really seeing him as he started to relieve his captivity and his meeting with the man who changed his life forever.

“He helped me; he saved my life.” Tony continued, “without him I would be dead.”

Tony thought of the operation to save him from the shrapnel, of confiding in the man, of the help in building his first ARC reactor and the suit that let him escape.

Of the death of the man as he lay in that tunnel. Of what he said

“The last thing he said to me was don’t waste it. Don’t waste your life.” He had tears in his eyes as he spoke and Peter’s body sagged.

“What are you?” Peter asked brokenly, snapping Tony out of his reverie.

They all looked at Peter questioningly, hoping that he had been convinced that they weren’t illusions.

Peter continued. “If you’re not illusions then what are you?”

At this Tony stepped out of the Iron man armour and walked towards him, waving off the Cap, warning him to stay back.

“Well,” he said stopping in front of Peter, “as far as I’m aware I’m a human and this is German. The year is 2016.”

At the year Peter collapsed to his knees, staring at his hands, and Tony watched, not knowing what to do, stuck between wanting to help and scared to do the wrong thing

He watched as Peter turned his hands over, staring at them as if they had all the answers.

He nodded and looked up.

“Then we have a lot to talk about.”


	3. Choosing a hiding place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team decide where they can go so that they aren't found.

Then Peter looked at his mentor, revealing in the fact that even though he was injured he was alive.

Now he just had to decide what he could tell them.

“But first you need to go to Siberia” He directed this at Steve, who nodded.

“That was the plan” The man said, looking at him assessingly, almost as if he was gauging how much of a threat, he could be to them now he was convinced that they were real and not illusions.

“Why?” Mr Stark asked, looking slightly betrayed that Peter was taking Steve’s side.

“Because he’s waiting for them there.”

“Who is?” Natasha, the Black Widow, asked.

“The man who caused the bombings and activated the Winter Soldier whilst he was being held there” Peter replied, looking at his mentor wanting to tell him that he couldn’t go because then he would be betrayed and have his team, his family stripped from him. He knew he needed to stop it form happening so that they would be together when He came later.

Peter blinked, trying to shove from his mind the thoughts about that time because he knew if he dwelt on them, he would start crying and he was only just holding it together.

“I will go” T’Challa announced and Peter realised that he had missed some of the conversation. “If he was responsible for the bombing then he was the one who murdered my father and so he will be tried by Wakandan law.”

To Peter’s surprise he saw Mr Stark hesitantly nod at that, but when he saw the man glance at him again, he realised that his mentor didn’t want to leave him alone so soon after they had stopped him from running around and jumping through glass.

Yeah, he thought as he reflected on what he had just done, they must think I’m crazy.

“Hey, kid” He heard and looked up, it was Mr Stark.

“Is it okay if Capsicle, Robo cop and Kitty go there alone? Or will they need more people?”

“No” he replied shaking his head, his thoughts coming slower now that his adrenaline was fading and his lack of sleep was catching up with him, from this form when he was too excited to sleep and from when he was being chased through the city. “They’ll be fine with just them, but you’re going to need to hide the rest so that they don’t get arrested.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not get arrested” Sam spoke up, and Peter hid a smirk glad that the Sam he had met once or twice before was the same as the one that he was meeting now.

“And we have to decide what to do with the Accords.” Natasha stated, looking around at the group.

“Well I don’t know-“ Mr Stark started, but was cut off by Peter’s fervent nodding.

“Really?” Mr Stark asked, seeming almost sheepish, “that bad?”

“They were a cluster fuck” Peter stated bluntly, “that you worked for months with barely any sleep to try and fix.”

“He tries to fix them?” someone asks, and at this point Peter is growing too exhausted to pinpoint who.

“Well yeah” he said tiredly, swaying a little, “he does try to fix things when they go wrong, even if he has the best of intentions when he does them.”

There was a snort, and Peter decided to sit down so that maybe the spinning would stop.

“Oh yeah” he said once he was sitting “that idiot Ross added some stuff just before you signed to change it. Might want to start there.”

“Underoos”

A figure swam in his vision.

He blinked trying to clear it, but it wouldn’t come into focus.

Blink.

It looked like something was moving.

Blink.

There was another shape.

Blink.

Someone was touching his face.

Blink.

His leg hurt.

Blink.

He heard buzzing.

Blink.

Then nothing.

Tony sighed and across at the kid who lay on the stretcher in the middle of the quinjet. The kid who had had dragged into whatever this mess was.

He slumped in the seat that he was sitting in and ran his hands down his face.

Christ, what was he thinking involving a kid in this.

“He’s going to be okay.” Sam said as he watched Tony from his seat on the other side of the kid.

Tony brought his hands down and nodded, but he still felt responsible for this. Who brings a fourteen year old child into a battle.

“Hey Stark” Clint called from the pilot’s seat, “where are we going?”

“Not yours” He instantly responded, “we don’t know if they have something that might be able to track us, or if anyone has been trying to follow us so far.”

A snort came from Clint, “you really think I would let us get tailed? But I agree with you, I can’t take this shit back home.”

“Compound?” Natasha asked.

“Too obvious” Tony dismissed, and at Natasha’s look he explained. “They’ve been threatening to go there for months to make sure we’re not doing anything “illegal”, but now they’ll have enough to go and look around.”

“Is there anything we don’t want found?” Sam asked looking straight at him.

“You mean besides our tech?” Tony shook his head, “that stuff in the wrong hands could be catastrophic. It would cause another arms race.”

Tony looked around at them and saw the group all exchanging confused glances.

“Oh come on” he said exasperatedly, “you don’t think that they’ve been trying to get their hands on the arc reactor, my suit, designs for all of you suits for years?”

“I knew there was some talk about you having to give it over to the government, but I thought that it was stopped because of how badly that went with the ironman armour.” Natasha murmured, with an impeccable poker face.

“Yeah”, he agreed “it did because I had to go and play politics with them to stop anyone from authorising black ops teams to raid out base and steal our tech. There’s also FRIDAY, which everyone wants to either control or destroy depending on whether they see her as a threat or an asset.”

“What about the tower?” Wanda asked, and looked confused when everyone just looked at her. “What?”

“It’s too open, too well watched and we would never be able to get there without being found.” Natasha quickly summarised for her.

Tony sighed, then announced “FRIDAY, protocol highway to hell.”

“Protocol implemented, planning route” FRIDAY announced.

“Stark” Clint called, “Why has your AI just taken control of the jet?”

“Shit” he muttered, “sorry, pre-set flight plan. Fri, be a good girl and give Legolas control back.”

He heard a strangled sound and looked across at Sam, who was staring at him like he had grown a second head.

“What?”

“Nothing” Sam said, shaking his head, but still kept looking at him like he had done something completely unexpected. He dismissed it, he had enough to worry about now.

The conversation lulled, leaving them in silence whilst Tony watched the kid’s chest rise and fall, then only thing convincing him that he was still alive.

“We’re here” Clint announced, and Tony got up to go and direct him to a hidden alcove in the trees the jet wouldn’t be seen.

Natasha followed and looked out at the estate below them. “Where are we?”

“Somewhere no one will look.”

She looked like she wanted to ask more, but then thought better of it.

“Do you have any medical equipment here?” Sam asked, standing by the stretcher that Peter was lying on.

Tony nodded once and then walked past everyone to exit the jet. Then he paused, looking at the scene that he had vowed never to visit again.

It was the place that no one knew they had had. The place that his parents went in secret when they wanted to get away from it all.

A large house, hidden from view by the forest that surround it, in the country side that had been removed from every record, a safe place to lay low when everything went wrong.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and walked towards the front door, hearing the others walking quietly behind him.

He stopped just before the step that led up to the door and waited.

“Why have we stopped?” someone asked, but he just held up his hand for silence.

He watched the door waiting for the little light to come one so that he knew that he was safe to go in.

When they had stood there for a minute and the light still hadn’t come on he started to worry. Maybe the system had been damaged over time, so he lifted his foot to place on the step and froze.

He heard wiring, the he saw two guns being uncovered at the top on the door and put his foot down.

“What the-“ someone said from behind.

“Authorisation code” A computerised voice stated.

“Authorisation code Anthony Stark” Tony stated.

There was a pause, as if it was waiting for more.

Tony sighed. “Authorisation code Anthony Stark, son of Howard Stark and Maria Collins Carbonell.”

“Password” The computerised voice requested, and Tony sighed, regretting letting his mother set it all those years ago.

“Il piccolo genio della mamma” He said with an impeccable accent, causing Natasha to snort behind him.

“Access granted” and the door swung open.

“Well that’s not creepy or anything” Sam commented.

“Not my choice” he muttered petulantly, thinking back to when his father had first shown him the house and how he had found it rediculous that they needed a house that no one knew about.

He was glad for it now.

The he strode forwards into the house that featured his nightmares. The place where his parents were heading towards when they died, but had never made it to.


	4. The house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets lost in some memories around the house and Clint discovers something he finds disturbing

4

He walked through the house, pulling the white covers off of the furniture as he went, his mind emerged in memories. Running through the house at 4 being chased by his mother with a wild grin on her face, his father gone on a business trip but no security around as they were in the most protected property the Stark’s owned. His father giving him one of his rare smiles at 6 when he woke up in the middle of the night and his father asked him to pick which type of weapon should be added to the property to protect it. All too soon those memories turned sour as he walked towards the study that his father used, the cold shoulder he received for the father’s day card he made at 7, the irritation towards him when he interrupted a discussion about finding Captain America at 10, the yelling when he walked into the office without being told to enter once he’d knocked at 11. He rolled his eyes at his naivety, having thought that it was just a one time thing, not realising that that would set the tone for the interactions they would have for the rest of Howard’s life.

The memories bombarded he when he opened the hidden door in the study disguised as a book case and walked down the steps to the corridor below, ignoring the first door on the left, and the one on the right in favour for the one at the end. The door to his father’s work shop. He sighed as he saw it. It was in disarray from the last time they had been here, when he was 18 and Howard was drunk, the man telling him that he was useless and his designs were pointless. He saw his first real attempt to build something that wouldn’t hurt people, a robot that was designed to help engineers, sort of like Dum-E but on a mass scale. He saw the thrown tools and his blood on the floor.

That had been the first time his mother had ever interfered between them, when she had seen him running from the house, blood dripping down his forearm from where the tool had hit when he had raised it to protect his face.

He heard a throat being cleared behind him and turned around to look at the person whose voice it belonged to. Clint. Oh, he thought blinking, they needed the medical supplies for Peter.

“Sorry” he muttered, moving past him to enter the second door he had ignored, opening it to reveal the infirmary, with two beds on wheels on one side of the room and a desk with medical equipment on there, a sink and cabinet mirror beside it. “Are we moving him down here or keeping him upstairs?”

“Upstairs.” Came the quiet reply, and he busied himself collecting the things they might need. Saline, an IV kit from the cupboards on the wall on the far side of the room, some blankets and pillows from the closest bed and the first aid bag that was hidden in the cupboard under the sink.

When he turned around with all of the equipment in his hands he saw Clint still standing there, trying to keep a poker face but he had known the man long enough to see through it to have a glimpse at the emotions underneath. He looked disturbed.

Tony shook his head, they didn’t have time for that. He swept out of the room, leaving the basement level and then he followed the sound of voices to the sitting room, where the rest of the team plus the other person Cap had invited, remembering that the kid had called him Scott Lang, were muttering quietly between themselves while Sam and Rhodey were were standing by the kid on the stretcher.

“Here” Tony said handing them over whilst looking at the kid who he got involved in all of this. He blinked, dragging himself back into the room and then looked around, noticing that everyone was staring at him. “What?”

“We were just wondering how Steve and the others are going to find this place.” Natasha replied smoothly.

“He has access.” Tony stated flatly.

The others in the room exchanged glances before Natasha asked, “does he know that?”

Tony blinked at that, unsure if Howard had bought this place before or after the end of the war. “I’m not sure.” He answered slightly surprised.

He thought about it for and minute and then decided. “I’ll get FRIDAY to send on of the quinjets to take them here, I’ll need the equipment's on it anyway.” Then he walked off to go and find where he left his suit so he could get FRIDAY to send out the jet that had all of the updated equipment on. 

“Am I the only one who didn’t know that Stark has this place?” Clint finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I didn’t know.” Rhodey answered, looking grave. “But he told me about a house he used to go to when he was younger. I thought he would have blown it up.”

Natasha frowned at that. “Why?”

Rhodey grimaced. “Let’s just say he didn’t have the greatest relationship with his parents.”

“What, did they not buy him enough stuff?” Wanda remarked, smirking slightly, but she quickly lost it when everyone turned to look at her. “What?” She asked defensively.

Rhodey shook his head with a look of disbelief on his face. “You really don’t know him at all, do you?”

“I know enough.” Wanda replied, fury in her voice. “I know he made bombs and they destroyed my home.”

Rhodey barked out a laugh at that. “No, the bomb that destroyed your home was stolen from him, just like the weapons that were used to kidnap him.” At the confused look on Wanda’s face he shook his head. “The next time you want to accuse someone of something, you should check your facts first.” He went to leave and then turned around, “and don’t think I’ve forgotten about what you did to him. Ultron was also your fault.” The he left the room in search of Tony.

Natasha thougth as she watched as Tony walked into the room followed by Clint, who looked shaken by whatever he had seen. As she saw how he reacted to the kid on the stretcher she started to re-evaluate what she knew about the man. The first time she had met him she had spied on him and although she ended up helping him it was a betrayal of trust, she knew that but she had reasoned that it was just her job and when they had worked together as Avengers she had taken his trust for granted and not really challenged how she had seen him. Now she realised that was wrong.

It was strange seeing him here, it was almost as if his mask was removed for the first time in the years she had known him and she resolved to get to know the man under the mask during their time here.

When she watched Wanda’s reaction to Rhodey revealing Tony’s past she realised, not for the first time that the woman was tainted by her rage and that she needed to have a talk with her. It was unfair for Tony, who was one of the original members of the team to not feel comfortable around them and as she thought about it more she realised that they didn’t give Tony the recognition he deserved for all he did for the rest of them.

For the members who didn’t have jobs like Wanda he provided them with homes, he fed and clothed them and created equipment for them to train with. And they let someone on the team who had caused him to create Ultron using an alien power source.

Shit, she briefly closed her eyes, they had screwed up.

She needed to sort out Wanda and either make her find the relevant information herself or give it to her so that she would stop using Tony as a target for her rage. He was an Avenger after all and if she thought about it like that then he was senior to her.

She paused. Was Tony even still considered an Avenger? And if he wasn’t then why was he the one that Ross and the others were rushing to blame?

She was just about to leave when she noticed Clint motioning to her that he wanted to speak so she quietly slipped out of the room with him following her. Once they reached the kitchen they began to talk.

“Tasha, there’s something weird with this place.” Clint began. “I went after Tony to help with the medical supplied and his father had a hidden door in his office that went downstairs.”

Natasha thought it made sense considering how hard Howard must have worked to make sure there was no record of this place if even she wasn’t able to find it.

“There was a workshop down there and one of Tony’s robots, like Dum-E was smashed and there was blood everywhere.”

At that Natasha brows furrowed in concern. Why would there be blood in a family workshop, and why would Tony, Tony who always looked after his robots, allow one of his creations to remain destroyed in a basement of a building that obviously hasn’t been entered in over twenty years.

Clint nodded at her expression.

“There were three rooms down there, the workshop, an infirmary” at Natasha’s raised eyebrow he nodded, “it was properly stocked, like the type of thing they have at Shield. He didn’t go into the other room” Clint continued, “but it as almost like he was scared of it.”

Natasha’s expression shuttered. No matter what other people thought she considered the Avenger’s to be her family and she didn’t allow anyone to hurt them. If she was honest with herself she was glad the commotion had been caused with the kid because she hated how everything had gone down and she wished that Steve and Tony had had more time to talk.

She hated to think what could have happened if they had continued fighting.

But she also knew that she needed to let Tony know what had happened to his parents, because although she had left it alone when Steve said he would tell Tony too much time had passed an Tony deserved to know.

And it was better for everyone involved if Tony found out when the others were gone so he could calm down before they arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think :)


End file.
